After the Battle
by Ex Oblivione
Summary: After the battle, Draco is devastated and guilty. He thinks he's alone but someone else wants to comfort him.


It was finally over. Draco Malfoy looked at the rubble, smoke, and dead people around him with regret and relief in his heart. Broken bits of stone wall and dust crunched underneath his feet. He just wanted to get away from it all, all the people in the Great Hall celebrating that it was finally over...the dark days, the war, everything. Draco clutched his throbbing forehead, trying to forget the horrible memories of the past two years.

Serving the Dark Lord was behind him now, but Draco didn't know if he could ever forget the details of his dark past. He didn't belong with the others in the Great Hall...he knew he was different, an outsider and outcast because of the Malfoys' Death Eater activities. A great part of Draco just wanted to forget that he ever was a part of all this, a part of the Death Eaters. He was afraid of Voldemort, and when Harry had defeated him in the final hours, Draco couldn't help but feel relief. As much as he couldn't stand Harry, arrogant and always the center of attention, Draco felt grateful. Of course, he would never admit that to Harry's face.

Draco stepped over someone lying prone on the ground, averting his eyes from their face. Dead or alive, Draco didn't know, but he didn't want to see the face of another person he recognized that had died in the battle._I just want to get away. Hide somewhere,_Draco thought. He just wanted to close his eyes...close his eyes and wipe away the memories. Draco walked out of the hall, into the bright daylight of the courtyard.

The unexpectedly bright morning sun made him shield his eyes, like a cave dweller coming to the surface for the first time in years. He took a deep breath of the fresh air, and exhaled, his worries and guilt slowly leaving his body.

He crossed the courtyard, approaching the spindly, covered bridge that spanned the deep chasm near the castle. Half of this bridge was completely collapsed from the battle. Draco stepped onto the still surviving section, cautiously picking his way along on the loose boards, wondering if it would even support his weight. Then again he wondered if he'd even care if the entire thing did collapse, sending him plunging to his death. Perhaps he'd deserved it...everything would never be the same.

Leaning onto the balcony, Draco looked out into the horizon. He thought of the past years, of memories with Crabbe and Goyle. True, Crabbe had acted foolishly in the Room of Requirement, shooting spells everywhere and almost ruining the Dark Lord's orders, but Draco still felt empty inside.

"Draco?" a voice made him turn around. A dreamy, singsong voice, one that slightly irritated him out of his trance.

"What?" Draco looked around for the source of the voice. He didn't feel like speaking at all and was quite annoyed, because he thought he'd been alone.

The Lovegood girl was walking toward him, in the courtyard. Despite the battle, she didn't have much of a scratch on herself, and looked as though she was going for a casual walk like any other day. Draco certainly didn't want to talk to Looney Lovegood, especially since his family and the other Death Eaters had kept her captive for a time in his house not too long ago. Perhaps she was here to inflict her indignation at his former siding with the Death Eaters and the imprisonment that she had been subjected to. Draco debated whether or not to run away, but he was rooted to the spot.

* * *

Luna walked closer to the bridge and stepped onto it. Draco was leaning his arms on the wooden railing, a vexed and slightly surprised expression on his thin face.

"What do you what?" Draco said. His arms were crossed, his face covered with dust and grime from the raging battle, despite the fact that he probably hadn't done much actual fighting.

"Just going out for a walk," Luna's glaze never left his face. "I'm allowed to do that, aren't I?"

She leaned her arms onto the railing beside of him, staring wistfully into the distance.

"So beautiful, isn't it?" Luna sighed. "The horizon, I mean."

Draco looked at her, as though amazed that after such a horrendous battle and life-changing event, all Luna could say was how beautiful the horizon looked.

"What about last night? Everything that happened? Why aren't you in the Great Hall crying over your friends' deaths with the rest of them?" Draco asked. He looked a little sad then, as if remembering something, and then dropped his voice, saying in a less harsher tone, "Sorry."

"Can't you see? They're at peace now. We've got to leave them alone and move on," Luna said, not meeting his gaze. Then, ever so softly, she whispered as if almost to herself, "We've got to carry on the dead's legacy through the living."

Luna thought of her mother, someone that she had loved dearly as a child. She was gone now, but Luna wasn't ever going to forget her. Many people she had known as good people (Lupin, Tonks, Fred Weasley, and everybody else) had perished bravely fighting for what was right. She wasn't going to back down and be afraid now, not even afraid of this boy that had seen her imprisoned and did nothing.

"You really mean that, Luna?" Draco asked gently. He put his head down, avoiding her eyes, and stifled a strange noise.

Luna looked away from the distant hills and forests, turning her attention to Draco.

"Are you crying, Draco?" Luna patted his shoulder. "Don't worry. Things will be better from now on."

"You must h-hate me. Because of who I've helped and what I did. But I..just.. can't forget the past, Luna, and my friend C-c-crabbe is dead," Draco said, wiping his face with his sleeve. Luna waited for a few moments, saying nothing, while Draco tried to compose himself.

"I don't hate you. I don't care about the past, because it's already happened and we just can't bring it back. In fact, I love you ," Luna dropped her voice, whispering now.

Her father had betrayed her friends, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, because he cared about her more, and Luna wasn't sure whether to be angry at him for it. He had blown up the house and her Crumple-Horned Snorkack Horn with it. The boy she secretly loved, and had now just openly admitted to loving, had helped to imprison her only a few months before at the Malfoy Manor. Was Luna going to shut away the world and never forgive anyone for anything?

"You...you do?" Draco's face gave away his bewilderment. Luna gave him an innocent look, then turned away bashfully. Draco stared at her dumbly, in slight shock, before saying, "Sorry...it's just...the craziness of last night. I've had enough shocks for a day."

"Yes, I understand completely," Luna nodded. "You've probably got a Wracksprut in your ear. Sometimes they hang around when a person's vulnerable."

"A what?" Draco looked even more confused now, then his face broke into an unexpected smile.

"You're alright, you know that? I thought you were a looney, but you're...you're really something," he laughed.

"Thanks," She smiled slightly. Luna was at a bit of a loss, unsure of what to say to that.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way, Luna. I'd, uh, like to know you better, too," Draco scratched the back of his head and stepped from side to side.

"You know, I'm a bit cold in this chilly morning. Maybe I'll stop by Hogsmeade," Luna said, shivering. The wind blew her blond hair to and fro, and shook the wooden beams that held their end of the bridge up. The sun was up in the sky now, but was cowering behind large cloud formations.

"You know, maybe it's the Wrackspruts messing with me, but I'd like to go with you," Draco said quickly.

Luna playfully raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure it's the Wrackspruts this time?"

"Oh, all right, you caught me," Draco admitted, "The Wrackspurts didn't tell me to say that."

They walked off the bridge arm in arm, the loose weeds in the courtyard blown across the stones in their wake.


End file.
